On a cold February night, the Grammy award winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Sheryl Crow played at the Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, MA as part of the Umbrella Concert Series in conjunction with Salt Lick Incubator. The openers for the show were three exciting emerging artists that are part of Salt Lick Incubator’s Salt Lick Sessions and were granted the opportunity to showcase their talents to a sold out room. 

Salt Lick Incubator, founded in 2022 by Roger Brown, former Berklee College of Music president. It is set up to help emerging artists by providing grants, support, career advice and exposure through their WERS Radio’s Salt Lick Sessions and their own Youtube channel. It’s supported by some more established artists as well like Charlie Puth, Jon Batiste and Susan Tedeschi.

Please Welcome To The Stage

The night started with American-born Argentinian singer songwriter Paula Prieto. Her set was pensive, and poignant. She started the night with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Make you feel my Love.” You could hear a pin drop in between her songs, the fans were that quiet and eager to listen. She had a charm about her that was also educational regarding her upbringing as someone who has spent time in two countries. Most of her songs were in Spanish which made me wish my bilingual skills were intact, but the melodies and her guitar work were great and very pleasant to listen to without having to know the lyrics. 

Vincent Lima was the next to take the stage, a concept artist at heart. He noted that he had songs rooting in Greek Mythology. His 3-song set included a band member on cello and a song with Lima behind the piano. His song selection wasn’t necessarily upbeat, but his solid song writing capabilities and his delivery made it nice to listen to.

The last Salt Lick Incubator artist to take the stage was Kyle Ray, a current Berklee student, his style was Outlaw country/southern rock vibe. He had a full band including banjo and mandolin. Their set was the most upbeat, and Kyle’s vibrant personality shone through during his set. He noted his mom was in the house and he was very excited to be opening for Sheryl Crow and performing to the crowd.

Photo by: Matt Lambert

Soakin’ It Up

Seeing Sheryl Crow in a 350 capacity theater was definitely a treat. Her set included all her hit songs. In addition, she included funny stories about her teenage boys sarcastically saying they love to see her dance. Crow then told a riveting story that I had never heard before about meeting Cat Stevens after a friend had alerted he was in the area. This led into her cover of his song “The First Cut is the Deepest.” Completing the 12 song set with “Soak up the Sun,” she performed with all three Salt Lick artists of the night.

To learn more about Salt Lick Incubator and the artists visit Salt Lick Incubator.

Sheryl Crow will be back in the Boston area for Boston Calling Music Festival Memorial day weekend! Crow will play day one, on Friday, May 23rd along with Megan Moroney, T-Pain, and Luke Combs. Crow was also recently announced to be part of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival. This includes New England stops on September 5 and 6. For a full list of Crow’s 2025 dates visit SherylCrow.com.

 Crow closes out the show, joined by Ray, Prieto, and Lima.

Review written by Matt Lambert.
All photographs taken by Matt Lambert / Trebmal Photography.